Kelly woke up with a languid, sensual ache that reminded her she’d had more orgasms the previous night than she had in the past year combined.

She flushed as she pulled the sheets up around her, looking over to see that Hunter was lying next to her in bed.

He must have gotten too warm because he was naked from the waist up, his tanned back and arms bared to the morning sun, his blond hair rumpled.

She’d never met a man like him, one who would cock a gun and check out a house one minute and ruthlessly, tenderly pleasure a woman the next.

She raised a hand, wanting to run it over his back, teasing the skin there, but stopped when she looked down and saw several large slashes with smaller, older ones beneath.

All were clearly healed, but they had happened in different time frames.

She traced a finger lightly over one of them and jumped back when she felt him stir.

When he turned over to look at her, she felt suddenly nervous and a bit regretful about what had happened the night before.

It wasn’t like her to get carried away like that, but she’d been intoxicated by having him close. By how amazing he had been, and by the feeling of being safe for the first time in so long.

But that was a heated moment in the darkness and so much different from facing him in the light.

He relaxed on his back, one muscular arm raised over his head, making his bicep flex. He winked at her, flexing it again on purpose as she looked away with a blush.

“Incorrigible man,” she muttered, but she was realizing she would never want him any other way. His unbridled ability to just move forward in life, to take what he wanted, to put himself out there, was waking her up. Making her think about a different way of living, rather than always hiding in the dark and waiting to be betrayed.

Yes, it had hurt when people had run from her, but she would never meet people who wouldn’t if she didn’t give new people a chance.

“What are you thinking over there?”

She felt more blood rush into her cheeks and propped herself up on her elbow, gathering her thoughts. Unable to really communicate what she’d been thinking, she decided to change the subject to something else she was curious about. “What happened to your back?”

His eyes widened slightly, looking so blue in the morning light that they reminded her for a second of the cougar she’d seen a couple nights before. “I, uh… I get in fights a lot.”

“With what, wild animals?”

He laughed, then sobered slightly. “Sometimes.”

“Oh?”

“I grew up in Montana, sometimes on a ranch, sometimes out in the wild. There’s a lot of wildlife there, and sometimes I was careless about getting in the way of it.”

“Where were your parents?”

“I’m not dead, right?” He looked up at the ceiling wistfully, a small smile teasing the corners of his full lips. “I guess I’m not good at following directions. I probably should have stayed away from certain fights.”

She still wasn’t sure how any of that related to the marks on his back, but she was sure his past had been interesting.

He hummed a bit to himself as he stared at the ceiling, then looked over at her with a playful expression, clearly done with the topic of a moment before. “So should we head down for breakfast?”

She sat up, rubbing her face with her hands. “Oh God, do you think anyone heard us?” Only Dawn and Garrett were in the home with them, and it was such a small house.

“No,” Hunter said. “In fact, Garrett told me when we got here that it’s soundproof and on the other side of the house.”

She felt her face almost go up in flames from sheer embarrassment. “Oh no, he knew…”

Hunter gave her a lascivious smile. “I think it’s more so his guests can’t hear him getting it on with Dawn. I bet they’re always—”

“No, no!” She lunged forward, putting a hand over his mouth, and accidentally fell onto him, knocking him back.

He held her against his chest, raising an eyebrow at her in surprise. “I know you wanted to have another go as soon as possible, but this exceeds even my expectations.”

She pushed off of him with a laugh. “It was an accident, you—”

“Oh, good,” he said, helping her sit up before getting up himself. “Because the guys and I should probably head over and see if we can find any remaining tracks from whoever it was that tried to break in last night.”

Her chest tightened as she remembered it, and she put a hand to her stomach, which suddenly ached with stress.

Hunter, who’d just gotten out of bed, walked over to her and tilted her face up. “Hey. We’re going to figure this out. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay?”

She looked away. “Okay.”

He crouched, catching her gaze gently. “Do you believe me, Kelly? Tell me you believe me.”

She met his eyes bravely. “I believe you. I’m just worried that—”

“Nothing to worry about,” Hunter said. “Except for getting down for breakfast before that bear can eat it all.”

She frowned because it was a little startling always hearing the word bear.

Hunter looked at her curiously. “You don’t like that word, do you?”

“I mean, I think bears are scary. Doesn’t everyone?”

Good save, Kelly.

Hunter cocked his head, looking unsure. “I don’t know. I grew up around them.” He shrugged. “But if it bothers you, I can call him that big beast instead.”

She laughed, glad that Hunter was always so respectful. “That works.”

“All right, let’s go see about that breakfast.” He pulled on his jeans and shirt and strode over to the door. “I’ll keep facing this way while you get dressed.”

She quickly pulled new clothing out of her night bag, deciding she would shower while Hunter was out checking out the house.

When they walked down the hallway to the kitchen on the other side of the house, they saw that Dawn and Garrett were already there, smiling at each other over plates of French toast.

“Leave any for us, you big bea—beast,” Hunter said, correcting himself.

Garrett raised an eyebrow at him but gave his always pleasant smile. “Sure. Over there, for both of you.”

“Sit by me,” Dawn said eagerly, pushing out a chair next to her at the table.

So Kelly did, feeling more comfortable every moment around these new people, feeling like they were already her friends.

As Hunter grabbed plates and loaded them with French toast and bacon, Garrett turned to Kelly with a smile.

“So Hunter, Grayson, and I are going to go check out your place. Is that all right?”

She nodded, taking a bite of French toast as Hunter got them both glasses of coffee and orange juice. She gave Dawn a grateful smile. “This is amazing. Thank you so much.”

Dawn just beamed. “You deserve it after the night you’ve had. April will come over to hang with us, and even though the guys will probably ban us to staying in the house, I’m sure I have some fun stuff we can do.”

“I’m sure,” Kelly said, looking forward to seeing her other friend again.

“Yeah, sorry,” Garrett said. “It’s just that until we figure out if something was trying to attack you, you’re safer inside the house.”

Kelly nodded, watching Hunter as he quickly scarfed down his meal, obviously eager to get to hunting whatever had broken the window the night before.

If she hadn’t stopped him, he might have gone out there. Might have wound up in danger, killed, or hurt. And they wouldn’t have had that amazing night together or the fun moments this morning, waking up in the same bed.

She made a note to always try to protect him, even if she couldn’t tell him everything that was threatening her just yet.

“Um, guys, if you’re going over there, please be careful,” she said, gripping her coffee mug nervously.

“Anything you suspect or that we should know?” Garrett asked, and all eyes turned to her.

This was it. Her chance to tell everyone it could possibly be her stalker bear and let them all think she was utterly insane.

But the bear had never broken a window, and she hadn’t seen any sign that he was around. And he should still be far away, the last place she’d seen him.

So last night must have been something else. And she was sure these three large, capable men could handle it.

“No, it’s fine,” she said quietly. “I just… It was scary last night.”

Garrett and Dawn looked at her sympathetically. “That makes sense.”

Hunter was eyeing her carefully, probably wondering if she was telling the truth or if she suspected it had anything to do with her stalker after all.

But she couldn’t say more about it. She was finally feeling safe and normal. Even cared about. Until the bear actually showed up—and she hoped it never would—she would keep her lips carefully shut.

The rumble of a truck sounded outside, quickly approaching.

“That’ll be Grayson,” Garrett said, placing a kiss to Dawn’s lips before getting ready to head out.

“We’ll be back later,” Hunter said, grabbing a last piece of toast and standing to follow Garrett. “You girls stay safe and call us if you see anything wrong.”

Dawn nodded. “Take care.”

And then the door was opening and April was walking in, and Hunter was disappearing with the other men toward Garrett’s big blue truck.

Kelly had to admit it was nice to have people looking out for her, rather than running away.

* * *

“So what do you guys think?” Hunter asked his friends as they paced around the deck, trying to discover more than he’d been able to in the short time he’d had last night.

He could still remember it like it was still happening.

Frankly, he was just glad Kelly was safe.

“It’s kind of like bear. Yet not, at the same time,” Grayson said, standing at the edge of the deck and taking in the fresh morning air. Even in the wake of what had happened, the forest was beautiful, seemingly undisturbed at all by the previous night.

“It’s hard to tell. It doesn’t remind me of any of the bears I became acquainted with back west. But at the same time, I spend most of my time in human form these days, so I’m not exactly sure what it could be.” Garrett picked up a broken piece of glass and ran it between his fingers gingerly, sniffing at it for a moment.

Hunter supposed if some random stranger saw three grown men sniffing around for something like bloodhounds, it would be a very odd sight indeed.

“If it’s a bear, it’s not like any I’ve smelled before,” Grayson asserted, turning around and folding his arms. “Probably something else.”

“So you’re an expert on bears now?” Garrett questioned.

“No, I’m not. Therein lies the problem,” Grayson replied unhelpfully.

While they kept talking, Hunter found some distressed bushes a few feet from the house and followed his intuition. On the ground, a large area of foliage had been moved aside, the dirt kicked around by something that had apparently left in a hurry. As he continued to survey, Garrett and Grayson joined him.

“Whatever it was, it’s something big, for sure.” Garrett knelt and took a closer look.

“Probably a shifter, then,” Hunter muttered, trying to follow any signs that could lead to their culprit.

“But then why did it try to get in the cabin? And why did it just leave afterward?” Hunter asked, more to himself than anything.

A few more broken sticks here and there and a disrupted log lay ahead. Then suddenly, the tracks broke off and disappeared into nothingness. No footprints. No evidence of any large creature only fifty or so feet away from the house.

If the creature had shifted, it was now long gone.

“Don’t worry, Hunter.” Garrett clapped his hand on his friend’s back. “You can stay with me until we figure it out. We’ll put up cameras, keep an eye on the place in case whatever it is comes around again.”

“I’ll get the equipment from my truck,” Grayson said, the first helpful thing he’d offered to do all day.

“Thanks, boss. I really appreciate it.”

“You know I hate it when you call me that.” Garrett grinned, flashing white teeth behind his especially overgrown beard. Domesticated Garrett was still the same old lovable bear. “How about you and me get that roof redone while Grayson works? We both know he’s better with that stuff anyway.”

Grayson was already back from this truck, several boxes in hand and his tool belt slung over his shoulder.

“Whatever this thing is, it’s smart. It knows how to avoid detection. It’s done a good job of masking its scent with smells from the forest, things that could throw us off track,” Grayson remarked, plopping his stuff into a little pile on the ground.

“Ah, that’s why it’s so faint,” Garrett said thoughtfully.

“We wolves do it sometimes. Especially when we’re trying to sneak up on something, go in for the kill. It’s important to stay downwind, make sure you roll around in—”

Hunter shot a glare at Grayson, not liking the implications he was making right now.

Grayson just shrugged, though he did look at least a little bit remorseful. “What? I’m just saying. That’s what wolves do. But clearly, this is not a wolf, or I’d have the entire pack out looking for it right now.”

Hunter sighed. At least he was trying.

Garrett clapped his meaty hands together excitedly. “C’mon, Hunter. We’ll race. Whoever finishes their side of the roof last buys the other dinner tonight.”

Focusing on something other than the unknowable sounded like a good idea, so Hunter followed Garrett up the hill, leaving Grayson to do what he did best while he and Garrett started moving heavy boxes of wooden shingles onto the roof to replace the old ones.

Thankfully, Hunter trusted that the women would be safe at Garrett’s house. In the wake of the almost disastrous fiasco Garrett’s mate had with the local wolf pack, Garrett had made sure to reinforce every possible part of the home he’d built for Dawn. The place was practically Fort Knox with stucco walls and a white picket fence.

That and Dawn had her phone on her, too, so they could contact them if needed.

Hunter started by tearing off old wood, noting with dismay that many pieces were cracked in multiple places from years of rain and sun and snow. It was a good thing they were fixing the roof today, since it could rain at any time with fall fast approaching.

But he couldn’t help wondering if this whole thing with the intruder last night was the baggage that Kelly kept talking about. From the start, he’d thought it had been a relationship, something that often went wrong with humans since they didn’t have mates the way shifters did. A lot of women had opened up to him about their past troubles over the years.

But it didn’t explain why Kelly seemed so afraid, different than the fear a person might have for another person. And since this thing was most likely not human, Hunter couldn’t be sure exactly what it was that Kelly was running from because she hadn’t told him yet.

Hopefully, he’d find out soon.

Just as Hunter was about to start the real work, his phone began to ring. When he checked it, he saw Dawn’s number.

Hunter felt a pit in his stomach and picked up immediately.

“Dawn? What’s up?”

Dawn’s voice was harried, rushed. “It’s Kelly. Something happened. She went into her room and locked the door and won’t talk to us. I think something scared her to death.”

“Be right there.”

Hunter didn’t even think. He leapt off the roof, heavy boots thudding on the ground as he bolted for his truck. He was already inside before Garrett had even registered that his friend wasn’t on the roof with him, but Hunter would just have to call him and fill him in as he drove, white truck tearing over the uneven road at reckless speed.

If Kelly was scared, he needed to be there, and fast.